Does paying statement earlier make any difference? 16 September 2022 at 5:15PM in Credit file & ratings 5 replies 222 views

MoodyMand45

Instead of waiting until the end of the month to pay the credit card statement off in full what would happen if i paid it earlier than the due date.
Would this make any difference on credit files, Does the credit file record a payment made before the due date?

I heard a rumour that paying earlier improves credit rating by recording a zero balance when the statement arrives and does not list payments made before the due date however I'm not sure that this is true based on the source of the Information.
Can anyone confirm?

MEM62

It will make no difference.  

MovingForwards

I always pay mine before the due date, sometimes I'll make multiple payments each month, makes absolutely no difference.

sourcrates

Your payment is recorded as either on time, or late, there is no marker for paying early.

Ebe_Scrooge

MoodyMand45 said:

Instead of waiting until the end of the month to pay the credit card statement off in full what would happen if i paid it earlier than the due date.

I heard a rumour that paying earlier improves credit rating by recording a zero balance when the statement arrives

You need to be clear about what you're asking here.  In the normal course of things, your statement arrives, shows a balance, and you have approximately 3 weeks until the "payment due" date.  As long as you pay the statement in full, on or before the due date, all is well, and you get a nice green tick added to your credit history.  It makes no odds if you pay it the moment the statement arrives, or leave it until the last minute (though it's wise to pay a day or two before the due date at the latest, just in case of any IT glitches or something silly like that - unless you're paying by DD).

But, to your second statement ... you can make a payment to the card at any time.  If you were to look online, check your balance and clear it the day before the statement is produced (produced, not arrived in your letterbox), and make no further transactions, then you'll receive a statement showing a zero balance.  Not a problem in itself, but it'll be reported as a zero balance.  So it will look like you're not using the card (as far as your credit record goes).  Again, not a problem as such, but you're then losing the benefit of building up a good history (i.e. using the card regularly and always repaying in full).  So doing that won't improve your credit rating.  It won't harm it either, but you're missing out on building up lots of nice green ticks on your record.

So there's no need to overthink it - wait for the statement to arrive, pay in full at some point between the statement landing on your doormat and the "payment due" date.  Job's a good-un.

phillw

I heard a rumour that paying earlier improves credit rating by recording a zero balance when the statement arrives and does not list payments made before the due date however I'm not sure that this is true based on the source of the Information.

They report the monthly payments separately, so even if the balance was 0 then it would show you were paying money off & so they could see how much you were spending.

It would look very weird. I'm not sure it's particularly useful.